I’ve been (and still am) working on my website during the summer to be ready for the back-to-school season in September. I couldn’t imagine how many things I had to change! That’s why I created a checklist (get to the end of the post and you’ll know what is this about) to not forget anything that I wanted to change.

This is a personal test that I challenge myself to pass by the end of the month/beginning of September. Do you want to take it with me?

Texts

A couple of years ago, I didn’t pay attention to the texts on my website. That’s why I’ve been studying copywriting during the last years. Obviously, this means that I have to rewrite all the content of my website with persuasive texts that sell.

Every single piece of text in your website must have an objective. You need to pay attention to every single detail:

Typography

Remember that you should use no more than two different fonts through your website. Maybe you can use a third one for graphic elements, such as pictures or infographics, but let’s stick to two fonts for now.

Also, it’s important that one of them is a serif font, and the other one is a sans serif one. What does that mean? Let’s have a look at this picture:

As you can see, serif fonts have additional strokes, as the one that you’re reading at this moment. Make sure that you don’t use two of the same type of typographies. I created a board on Pinterest with typography ideas that you can use both in your website and publications.

Also, pay attention to how you’re using your headings and subheadings. Try to create a clean text so search engines can understand what your website is about.

Copywriting

We need to create texts that sell. At the end of the day, that’s our main objective, isn’t it?

Now let’s focus on your body text. You must have clear at this point what the needs of your potential clients are. So you’ll have to exploit them in your text. Tell your readers what you’re going to do to solve these needs and concerns.

Pages

How many pages are included in your website? If you don’t know how to answer this question without checking your website, you should work on this section.

Objectives

Every page in your website must have an objective. I always say that going through a page is like a trip. You have to guide your audience from the very beginning until the end of the journey (aka what you want your audience to do).

Make a list with all your pages and write the objective for each of them in a column. Now you have to use your copywriting skills to achieve this objective.

For example:

If the objective of your home is to attract your audience’s attention so they keep reading your “service”/”work with me” page. You have to focus on that, add a clear call to action telling them what to do and persuade them with your texts.

SEO

Are all your pages SEO-optimised? Make sure that you’re using the most ideal keywords for each page and include them in your copy. Also check that all your on-page links work or your visitor could get lost in your website.

Images

Quality

The quality of your images is crucial. It’s the first graphic element that your visitor is going to pay attention to. Invest in a photography session if needed but don’t use your Facebook images.

Show yourself to your visitors. This promotes trust in your business. But don’t get carried away. You know that your audience is the most important thing here.

Compressor

Have you compressed your pictures? This will make you gain extra seconds when your website is loading. And now you can do it without risking the quality of your pictures. How? I always use one of these compressors.

SEO

Have you ever heard of the ALT tab of the images?

As you can see, there are different field to fill when we upload a picture to our website. I’d recommend spending some time and fill them all, but it’s especially important to fill the ALT tab and the caption field.

As you know, Google can’t read images 100% yet. So we need to help it so it can read the images that we include in our website. The ALT tab will help it to relate the image to the content that we’re creating. It’s important that you write your keyword. Don’t use spaces, use hyphens “-“ instead.

The caption is also important because it’s the text that will be shown in case that, for some reason, your image fails to load.

Corporative blog

Have you decided to add a blog to your website? Personally, that’s the best way to promote your brand new website. But we need to take some things into consideration.

Content marketing strategy

We can’t just publish a post just when we feel like it. That won’t work. If you need to take it seriously, you need a strategy. Create an editorial calendar and figure out how many times you’re going to publish a week/month and the topics that you’re going to talk about.

Take some time to learn what you audience wants you to talk about. Listen to them, to the questions that they ask, to their needs and you’ll be in the right path.

Of course, a content marketing strategy is much more than that, but this is a good way to start. Analyse your results and see if it’s working.

Objectives

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to monetise your blog? Do you want to sell your products/services? Maybe you want people to subscribe to your list?

Focus on one metric, the most important one for you and analyse what you can do to improve your results.

Branding

Branding is about the corporative image that your visitor see when he lands in your website. Let’s see the most important elements.

Logo

Most people can’t see the difference between branding and a logo. Well, your logo is just one element of your branding. Is it optimised? Where are you going to place your logo within your website? Personally, I’d go for the header so people can recognise your business at the first glance.

Corporative colours

Have you already chosen the colours of your business? It’s important to stick to them to be coherent through your marketing materials. Colours will convey different emotions within your website.

Subscribers

How are you going to turn your visitors into subscribers? I’m sure that at this point you’re aware of the importance of building your mail list. But how are you going to do that?

Probably if you have created a corporative blog, that would be a good way to start. You can attract people to your blog and then persuade them to subscribe to your email. But, what are you going to offer in exchange?

Now, is your website ready? I’ve prepared a checklist so your can evaluate your website and see what needs to be improved. You can download it by clicking the link below.

Is your website ready to go back to school in September? What changes are you going to focus on? Would you add anything else to the list? I’d love to hear from you!

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About David Miralles Perez

My name is David Miralles and I am aware of how languages can influence professional environments. Honing communication between two cultures has become crucial in today’s globalized world. And that is what I do by means of my translation and interpreting services. Small and medium enterprises and individuals can now spread their messages through cultural and linguistic barriers and make a big impact on an international scale.

About Me

My name is David Miralles and I am aware of how languages can influence professional environments. Honing communication between two cultures has become crucial in today’s globalized world. And that is what I do by means of my translation and interpreting services. Small and medium enterprises and individuals can now spread their messages through cultural and linguistic barriers and make a big impact on an international scale.